Led Zep and Unconscious vs self-conscious prog

I realize that a band like Led Zeppelin are not 'prog rock' in the traditional sense, but to me Zeppelin hella lot more adventurous than a lot of the bands that we distinctly label as 'prog'.   In many ways, LZ achieved their progressiveness in an un-conscious manner, and in so doing created much more artistic works than those bands that wore their progginess/artsiness on their sleeves.  Take two Zep albums that got relatively low scores on progarchives review forum:

you make a great observation   ..I'm a recovering Zeppoholic, had it bad in my early twenties, more bootlegs than I care to count, collectibles, etc, it was ugly.. but I realized how progressive they really were, especially live and by '75 they had become an even more phenomenal live act than shown in SRtS (filmed '73) often turning in much more progressive shows than their Prog contemporaries did  ..an amazing balance between spontaneous, visceral heavy blues/jazz and carefully planned expansions of their songs  ..even Floyd and Hendrix rarely matched them for range and risk-taking live, only the Dead did it better I think     ..the studio albums, too, show a clear progressive arc in material development and studio sound that always was fresh and pushing past their hard rock tag


...in concert and beyond !


 

I would bet money that most of the early prog was subconscious prog.  

  Yeah, I understand what you mean about the reviews.   It's just that, to my mind, something is a bit skewed in progdom when TA gets a 4.09 and an all-time great like Houses gets a meager 3.69.   Anyway,  I'll try not to take the review scores too much to heart since after all, it's only a number.   

Good points about the Zepp, their adventurous artistic path, and the safe grounds in which prog bands sometimes rest. Except for that 3.69 and 3.86 are not at all low ratings. To me a 7 (or three and a half stars) mean "very good" (the scale being 6-good, 7-very good, 8-excellent, 9-exceptional, 10-masterpiece).

Edited by Swan Song - September 14 2008 at 13:07

Led Zeppelin will always be the best rock n roll band of all time. They certainly pushed the envelope more than the vast majority of "prog" bands, and if one was to rate albums independent of this site, Zep would be way ahead all but perhaps a few of the classics.

Call me a heathen, in fact you can call me whatever you like, but I prefer the Transatlantic albums to these by Zeppelin.

Atavachron wrote: darkshade wrote: what's the best LIVE Zep album to get based on this discussion? something from their later period? Ive been on a hard rock/classic rock/etc... binge updating my collection with great live albums. if you like the early material - 1973 and before - How the West Was Won is interesting, but I still think Song Remains the Same is king   ..as for boots, almost anything from the 1975 tour is brilliant

Helsinki 70 is a very good one along with KB Hallen of the same year

For me Zep has some Heavy Prog songs, Achilles Last Stand, Stairway to Heaven, No Quarter. I think Rush without Zep, it wouldn't be the Rush everyone knows about. I hear a lot of influences in 2112 and Caress of Steel, why in Farwell to Kings they reached to their very own Prog identity.